A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future (12 page)

Read Design Magazines.

Professional designers read (and obsess over) design magazines. So should you (except for the obsess part). Reading design magazines—or just leafing through them—can sharpen your eye and inspire your mind. While hundreds of design magazines—many of which merely fetishize expensive things—fill the newsstands, these eight are on my must-read list:

Ambidextrous
—
A project of Stanford University’s d. school, this quirky magazine explores the craft of design and the nuances of design thinking.
(More info:
www.ambidextrousmag.com
)

Dwell
—
One of the most respected shelter magazines,
Dwell
has an ethic of public service and environmental responsibility that helps it stand out.
(More info:
www.dwellmag.com
)

HOW
—
This terrific magazine mostly focuses on graphic design. It also has lots of smart business advice, reading recommendations, and an annual design competition that’s a great source of ideas.

(More info:
www.howdesign.com
)

iD
—
This award-winning magazine is well known for its Annual Design Review, which singles out the year’s best designs—and for the iD 40, which introduces readers to up-and-coming designers.

(More info:
www.idonline.com
)

Metropolis
—
With a strong emphasis on construction and materials, this magazine offers tremendous insight into the built environment. I also like its coverage of sustainable design.
(More info:
www.metropolismag.com
)

O
Magazine—
Oprah Winfrey’s publication, which bears its creator’s design sensibility, is one of my three favorite magazines of any kind. Period. Read it, know it, live it.

(More info:
www.oprah.com/omagazine
)

Print
—
Another great graphic design magazine, this one is known for its voluminous Regional Design Annual.

(More info:
www.printmag.com
)

Real Simple
—
One designer I know calls this magazine her bible. Its theology is straightforward: “to bring clarity to everyday tasks, so readers can focus on what really adds meaning to their lives.”

(More info:
www.realsimple.com
)

Be Like Karim.

In response to my request for advice on how those of us who aren’t professional designers can incorporate a design sensibility into our lives, Karim Rashid sent me his “Karimanifesto,” a fifty-point guide to life and design. Here are some excerpts:

1. Don’t specialize.

5. Before giving birth to anything physical, ask yourself if you have created an original idea, an original concept, if there is any real value in what you disseminate.

6. Know everything about the history of your profession and then forget it all when you design something new.

7. Never say “I could have done that” because you didn’t.

24. Consume experiences, not things.

33. Normal is
not
good.

38. There are three types of beings—those who create culture, those who buy culture, and those who don’t give a shit about culture. Move between the first two.

40. Think extensively, not intensively.

43. Experience is the most important part of living, and the exchange of ideas and human contact is all life really is. Space and objects can encourage increased experiences or distract from our experiences.

50. Here and now is all we got.

The above from Karim Rashid, one the most world’s most versatile, prolific, and celebrated designers. (More info:
www.karimrashid.com
)

Become a Design Detective.

It’s a favorite hobby of the real estate–obsessed and the just plain nosy: visiting open houses. Follow their example and spend a Sunday walking through other people’s homes. Scour the real estate ads in search of residences likely to yield an eclectic mix of design ideas and insights. Tour a half dozen homes and look for design trends and commonalities, as well as unique or quirky expressions of the owners’ personalities and tastes. Take a page from architect Sarah Susanka, author of
The Not So Big House,
and “notice what constitutes the spaces that feel good to you. Try to determine if they appeal on an emotional level or in a physical way. And try to articulate why.”

Perhaps turn this into a group outing by collecting several friends and heading off to different open houses. Gather at the end of the day to compare notes. And be sure to take advantage of decorator show homes and neighborhood house tours. They can provide a healthy dose of design diversity in just a few hours.

The snooping approach can also work on the job. Next time you’re at someone else’s workplace, look around. How does the physical environment make you feel? Would you be productive and happy in this kind of setting? How do the layout, the lighting, and the furniture enhance or impede how people interact and communicate? What design elements would you incorporate into your own workplace?

Participate in the “Third

Industrial Revolution.”

If we’re all designers, what better way to get started than by designing something yourself? “In the future,” says Italian designer Gaetano Pesce, “customers will expect original objects. What I call the third industrial revolution will give people the opportunity to have a unique piece.” You can sample the revolution by designing your own Nike shoe—with the color, pattern, and image that’s right for you.
(More info: nikeid.nike.com)
You can also do the same with Vans skate shoes.
(More info:
www.vans.com
)
Or, for the ultimate expression of individuality, use your handwriting to create your very own font.
(More info:
www.fontifier.com
)
“The proliferation of mass customization of consumer products,” designer David Small told me, “will have a powerful and empowering effect on how ordinary people see design.”

Visit a Design Museum.

Fine art has always found a home in museums. But applied art—that is, design—has often been consigned to rickety file cabinets and designers’ basements. Fortunately, that’s changing. Several large cities now boast museums devoted to industrial, graphic, interior, and architectural design. These museums, rich with examples and explanations, offer a great way to deepen your design sensibility. Here are ten of the best.

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum (New York City)—
The Cooper-Hewitt’s extraordinary permanent collection is one of the largest design troves in the world, featuring everything from a Michelangelo drawing to Eva Zeisel saltshakers. The exhibits are always wonderful, especially those that include pieces from the National Design Triennial, which the Cooper-Hewitt hosts.

(More info:
www.ndm.si.edu
)

Design Exchange (Toronto)—
This museum and research center takes its name from its building, the site of Toronto’s first stock exchange. Today the museum serves a dual purpose: touting the best of Canadian design and teaching visitors about the variety of design in the world.
(More info:
www.dx.org
)

Design Museum (London)—
The brainchild of Sir Terence Conran, this two-floor museum features rotating exhibits of twentieth-and twenty-first-century design. The gift shop and children’s activities are first-rate. Its location near the Tower of London introduced me to a part of London I’d never explored.

(More info:
www.designmuseum.org
)

Eames House (Los Angeles)—
The husband and wife team of Charles and Ray Eames are perhaps the most famous furniture designers of the twentieth century. The home that they built as a case study, and that they lived in much of their lives, is now a showcase of their work. You can view it only by appointment. But once or twice a year, Eames officials will open the house for public tours.

(More info:
www.eamesoffice.org/visit_house.html
)

Herbert Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography (New York City)—
Visit this quiet place in New York’s East Village and you’ll never look at graphic design the same way. The center, dedicated to preserving seminal works of graphic design, serves mostly as a research facility for students and faculty of the Cooper Union. While it sometimes has public exhibitions, you’ll need to make an appointment to see the good stuff.

(More info:
www.cooper.edu/art/lubalin
)

Museum of Modern Art, Architecture and Design Department (New York City)—
MoMA, of course, is one of the world’s finest art museums. But it was also one of the first U.S. museums to devote display space to design and architecture. Its permanent collection—which has everything from sports cars to furniture to posters to appliances—is a required stop for your design education.
(More info:
www.moma.org/collection/depts/arch_design
)/

National Building Museum (Washington, D.C.)—
This is one of the most beautiful museums in Washington, worth visiting simply to step into the Great Hall and gaze at the ceiling for five minutes. But if you stay longer, you’ll usually find excellent exhibitions on architecture and urban design, often with a public-spirited bent. The children’s programs also are excellent.

(More info:
www.nbm.org
)

Victoria and Albert Museum (London)—
Britain’s cavernous national museum of art and design features some two thousand years of extraordinary design—from tenth-century Egyptian vases to twentieth-century Eames storage units. Great kids’ activities here, too.
(More info:
www.vam.ac.uk
)

Vitra Design Museum (Weil am Rhein, Germany)—
Located in a building designed by Frank Gehry, this museum offers regular exhibitions on the best industrial design in Europe.

(More info:
www.design-museum.de
)

William F. Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)—
This fascinating contemporary museum is part of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. Most of the exhibits highlight print design, but you can find some interesting industrial design here as well.
(More info:
www.eisnermuseum.org
)

C-R-A-P-ify Your Graphic Design.

Robin Williams (no, not that one) is one of today’s best design writers. Her book,
The Non-Designer’s Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice,
is a gem, in no small measure because she spells out the four basics of effective graphic design:

1.
Contrast.
“If the elements (type, color, size, line thicknesses, shape, space, etc.) are not the
same,
then make them
very different.”

2.
Repetition.
Repeating visual elements “helps develop the organization and strengthens the unity” of your brochure, newsletter, or letterhead.

3.
Alignment.
“Nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily. Every element should have some visual connection with another element on the page.”

4.
Proximity.
“Items relating to each other should be grouped close together.”

Check out Williams’s book for examples. If you heed her C, R, A, and P, you'll avoid printed materials that look like, uh, not very good.